PTI is right

ONE fails to understand what exactly justifies the opposition’s demand to know the ‘conditions’ attached to the recent bailout package amounting to $6 billion that Prime Minister Imran Khan secured during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia. No one has forgotten how smug the then finance minister — now absconder — Ishaq Dar was when the PML-N government secured a similar ‘gift from a friendly country’, in 2014. Other than the fact that the ‘gift’ was about a quarter of the current largesse, all other features appeared to be similar.

Why was it ‘halal’ for the PML-N to not ‘take the nation into confidence’ on the terms and details of the understanding with our Saudi benefactors and how come it is not so for the PTI to not divulge the fine print of the ‘deal’?

The PTI government is absolutely right in its assertion that there are no strings attached to the recent aid package from the House of Saud. Terms and conditions are always future-oriented and forward-looking. This relationship of un-equals that we are discussing is anything but backward in its very essence. Pakistan does not need to worry about any financial liabilities tied to the Saudi package in future. The country has already paid for it in advance. In blood.